Related Articles

Picked early, hard-rind or hard-shell gourds and okra dry to a wood-like texture, making them ideal for crafts. Their shapes -- long and slender, bulbous, curvy or snowman-like -- mean they're especially useful for making stylish, cute or quirky Christmas ornaments. Select your fruits with a project in mind, or let the organic shapes inspire your creativeness.

Twinkle, Twinkle Little Gourd

Gourds, scrubbed, sanded and waxed to a smooth, sparkly shine, have a Christmas-decoration-like appearance, but with strand lights peeking through tiny holes from inside, they present star-like glimmer. Remove the butt end, cutting it straight to sit flat. Notch a groove for the light's cord. Scrape out the innards -- dried pulp may be dusty, so work outdoors and wear a dust mask. Drill holes through the shells in artsy fashion, letting Christmas elements from trees and poinsettias to elves and scalloped garland, guide your designs. Plan your pictures or patterns with templates, tracing paper or cutouts and a pencil, if freehand styling isn't your forte.

Hand-Painted Pretties

When you cut long narrow, okra pods crosswise, using a pumpkin saw, small handsaw or jab saw, their ribbed shell forms a star-like shape. Cut 1-inch wide stars, clean out the pulp and sand the shells, readying them for paint. Let your imagination and festive color scheme guide your artwork; spray paint the ornaments with metallic silver, antique bronze or gold paints -- or hand paint each one with alternating stripes or colorful polka dots using craft paints. Dangle grouped stars from a wreath, a door knocker or dining-room chandelier arms with various length ribbons.

Okra Angels

Use long, slender okra to make a chorus of angels. Attach each choir member's wooden-bead head and Spanish-moss hair with hot glue. Draw singing faces with simplistic ovals representing open mouths and lash-adorned crescents for closed eyes, using a fine-tip marker. Glittery-gold pipe-cleaner halos and wire-ribbon wings finish the bodies. Attach a folded-paper songbook to each angel's front at chest height. As the book's title, print a party guest's name, and stand each angel in a water glass or canning jar as party-table place settings.

Hung With Care

Small gourds and okra sprayed with craft glue and dusted with glitter make attractive Christmas-tree ornaments, as do papier-mache fruits sporting colorful bits of wrapping paper and topped with high-gloss lacquer; hanging them doesn't have to be tricky. Screw a small eye hook to the top of each wood-like decoration. Through the eye, slip a wire Christmas ornament hook, a stylishly curvy hanger or length of ribbon. If you use ribbon, knot the ends to form a loop.